Singapore’s imposition of targeted sanctions on four extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank on Friday is unlikely to make much difference to them or to the Palestinians they torment. But given the close historical relationship between Singapore and Israel, it is an important sign of how isolated Israel is becoming on the world stage.
The sanctions target four Israeli settlers for “egregious acts of extremist violence” against Palestinians in the West Bank. The men will be banned from doing business with Singaporean financial institutions and from traveling to Singapore.
All of them are affiliated with the violent extremist organization Hilltop Youth, which organizes illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank and uses them bases from which to attack Palestinian villages. The four men have already been sanctioned by the European Union, and Hilltop Youth was previously sanctioned by the United States for violent acts including killings and mass arson, though that designation was reversed by President Donald Trump in January.
